Analects 8.14: 泰伯 (Tai Bo)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 8 places personal conduct beside the use and relinquishment of power. Taibo’s yielding opens the book; praise of Shun, Yu, Yao, and Zhou closes it. Between these stands a sequence in Master Zeng’s voice, beginning in illness and extending to the lifelong burden of humaneness. Ritual gives qualities their measure, while poetry and music form a person’s response. Learning is tested against talent, salary, public service, and withdrawal. The book ends with Yu’s choices: little for personal comfort, full care for ritual and waterworks.
Analects 8.14
子曰、不在其位、不謀其政。
The Master said, “If you do not hold the office, do not plan its affairs.”
Commentary
politics The affairs of the office 位 names the position; 政 names its governing business; 謀 is to plan or deliberate. Repeated 其 ties the business to that particular position. The saying places a boundary around the responsibilities one undertakes. The exact Chinese saying recurs at 14.27 in this edition.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high